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All That 'Rigged' Talk Overshadows the Very Real and Active Suppression of Black Votes
Frantically saving himself from the rat-a-tat of queries from skeptical black journalists at a rushed “off record” session at the GOP headquarters months ago, Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus dropped the only mic he could think of to shut up the crowd: “I used to work for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.” Many in…
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For Black Voters, Russians and Republicans Are a Bit Too Close for Comfort
Back in the day, Russians were like the Antichrist to Republicans. Today they appear thick as thieves, both seemingly involved in a two-front, rigged-election war to blow up the black vote. A Trump presidency catapulted by angry, white populism is already a scary thought. But as bad as that is, consider the possibility of the…
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In Case You Didn’t Notice, Charlotte, NC, Is in the Middle of a Major Battleground State This Election
Keith Lamont Scott’s tragic shooting by police and the subsequent rage in Charlotte, N.C., could not have happened at a worse time—or in a worse place politically. Intersecting unrest is the larger backdrop of what is, arguably, the nation’s most extreme top-to-bottom-ballot battleground state this election cycle. Many on the ground protesting (and those watching…
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5 Reasons Why DOJ Probes of Police Shootings Have No Teeth
It’s become a routine American pastime: the spotlight of a federal Justice Department probe into grisly police killings of unarmed black people. Once you’ve seen those pixelated smartphone or half-working body-camera videos spreading like brushfire on social media, it’s safe to expect next an announcement from the U.S. attorney general. Like the iconic bat signal for…
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You Can Walk, Chew Gum, Be Pro-Black … and Stand Up for the National Anthem
Here’s a neat little trick: You can be unapologetically pro-black, disgusted with systematically oppressive institutions, outraged at bigoted cops killing black people, done with a government that does little about it other than useless after-the-fact probes and consent decrees, perpetually stumped by white people who vote against their own best interests just to maintain a…
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The Conveniently Missing Racial Politics of EpiPen Access
The availability of essential lifesaving tools like the EpiPen never rises to being a crisis until the price hits white people’s wallets. Foreclosures and the lack of affordable housing drew Big Short condemnation when idyllic Caucasian suburbs went into meltdown. Drug wars go into cease-fire and even Republican presidential candidates, of all people, view addiction…
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The GOP’s Obsession With Detroit Is a Dangerously Coded Attack on Black Leadership
Donald Trump wasn’t the first Republican presidential hopeful to visit Detroit. Nor was he the first, fashioned like modern Tarzan, to swing in on a vine and lecture majority-black cities on how they suck at running things. Over the past several years, Detroit has made its way from storied wasteland to bankrupt town to experimental…
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The Democratic National Convention Didn’t Talk About a Black Agenda, so We Did
On Wednesday, as Philadelphia’s center was overrun by throngs of Democratic conventiongoers, The Root and legendary Philadelphia radio station WURD 900 AM collaborated blocks away on Broad Street to discuss what the black agenda might be—especially after what is shaping up to be the most contentious presidential election in nearly 50 years. In the war…
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#DNCinPHL? Don’t Forget to Ask Black Philly About That
No convention of a major political party in the city of Philadelphia can take place without great degrees of deference to its blackness. Pundits unable or unwilling to do so will quickly melt into nonsensical half-assedness, the consequence of white-typecasting Philly with the lore of cheesesteaks, perennially angry Eagles fans and “Brotherly Love.” But in…
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Post-Dallas, Could White Fear Turn Tide for Trump?
The political climate had already incubated into the most racially flammable presidential election cycle in recent memory (perhaps more so than when the first black president ran). Throw a lit match of tragic police assassinations by a heavily armed vengeful black man onto it, and it may have just exploded into a summer-surprise inflection point…
